Strawberry Shortcake w/ a Splash of Chuck E Cheese

Anna Claire had her 4th birthday party at Chuck E Cheese this year.  For the past 3 years we have always had her party in the backyard with a bounce house, but this year I wanted to attempt to enjoy the party a little more and let's face it, I can't top the fire truck from last years party, so I let the fabulous staff @ Chuck E Cheese handle everything.  They were awesome!  This was also the first party that Anna Claire had friends at that she has made on her own, without me knowing their parents first.  There were 8 little girls at the party and lots of adult family members and friends.  Thanks to everyone that took the time to drive to Murfreesboro to spend Anna Claire's special day with her.  We are blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.

I ordered her invitations from Etsy.

Her outfit came from My Red Lady Bug.

Anna Claire and her Big Daddy

Anna Claire's expression when she first saw Chuck E Cheese walking through the door.

Oh, the cake and Berrykins cookies!!  Made by Valerie at Wild About Cakes!

Are you over it yet?  LOL!!  : )  It was a wonderful day!!

She Can't Be 4 Already

Anna Claire celebrated her 4th birthday on April 26th.  It's hard to believe it's been 4 years.  She is a very special little girl and such a blessing to our family!!  She started her birthday with presents and then she took 45 cupcakes, which I forgot to take a picture of, to pre-school to share with all the children and teachers.  Anna Claire got balloons delivered from Kerry and I, as well as Uncle Josh to pre-school and she chose "Mexico", El Mexico as most people know it, for her birthday dinner.  I think for a 4 year old, she had a pretty special birthday.

She got her birthday presents from Mommy and Daddy before getting ready for pre-school because Daddy had to work that night.

We are preparing for our first soccer season this Fall and she is so excited about it.

     

After presents, we got ready for pre-school and work for the day.

This is what Daddy did most of the the weekend before Anna Claire's birthday.  Big Daddy and Uncle Josh helped some too.

Anna Claire's birthday dinner at El Mexico.

You can see the redness on her cheeks.  LOL!!  It may be the first time that I have ever seen her embarrassed.
Then we had CAKE!!

The Saturday after Anna Claire's birthday we celebrated with family and friends at Chuck E Cheese.

Easter 2011

Anna Claire and I colored Easter eggs the night before Easter.

I would not recommend the glitter egg kit because it is messy and our eggs looked nothing like the picture on the box.

Anna Claire woke up to find that the Easter Bunny did make a stop at our house this year.

After checking out what the Easter Bunny left, we got ready for Church.

After Church, Anna Claire hunted eggs with her Daddy.

Happy Birthday!!

Happy 4th Birthday Anna Claire!!

We love you to the moon and back!!

Look how you've changed!! 

Time......

How did she go from this...........................

 

........................to this in just 4 years?



Not for the Weak

Anna Claire loves this man............

............and that man loves to torture me!!

Anna Claire is such a girly girl, so it may surprise you that she loves dirt, worms, snails, just about anything except spiders.  She panics when she sees a spider.

I picked her up from daycare one day and she had been carrying around a baby worm to show me.  (like I really wanted to see it)  Anyway..................Wednesday afternoon I went over to Momma's to get her bc we were going to Murfreesboro.  Big Daddy had picked Anna Claire up from daycare and she was outside with him and Pops.  I noticed a bowl of what seemed to be someones internal organs.  I inspected the bowl until I got completely freaked out.  It looked similar to this, but WAY WORSE!!

Momma rounded the corner and I asked her what it was.  Pops had gone turkey hunting that morning and killed a turkey, so it was the turkey's heart and 2 other organs, but I completely tuned her out once she said heart.  She told me that Big Daddy had to explain what everything was to Anna Claire.  I then turn around to Anna Claire walking in the door carrying a wild turkey foot/claw that looked similar to this, but the leg part was longer.

Anna Claire comes over to me and begins to pet my arm with the turkey foot.  This would be the turkey foot that had been attached to the live turkey earlier in the day before Pops shot it!!  Big Daddy comes in cracking up because he knows that I have to stand there and take it because if I acted freaked out, he'll fuss at me.  He doesn't want Anna Claire to be afraid of things like that, so he makes me act like I'm not either.  I took it for about a minute and then I couldn't stand it anymore.  Thankfully, she took the foot back outside to Pops!!

4 Years Already?

It's hard to believe that 1 week from tomorrow (April 19), Anna Claire will be 4 years old.  Where did the time go?  Easter Sunday has really messed with me this year because there is only 1 day between Easter Sunday and Anna Claire's birthday.  I am prepared, so far, for both.  Her birthday party is planned, but it seems that getting people to RSVP is like pulling teeth.  Normally we have her a party in the back yard, so RSVP'ing is not really an issue.  This year we are going to Chuck E Cheese, so RSVP'ing is very important because we are only allowed 2 extra kids over the amount that I planned for.  I know Anna Claire is not concerned with how many show up, but I don't want anyone left out.  Speaking of being left out, by the end of next week Anna Claire may be sick of cake.  LOL!!  She is taking 40 cupcakes to pre-school Tuesday, I've ordered her a cake for Tuesday, and then another cake for her party.  We decided to do a cupcake for every kid at pre-school because she couldn't invite them all and I didn't want anyone to feel left out. 
Yesterday we had an Easter egg hunt at church.  I was surprised at Anna Claire's egg hunting strategy.  She's very competitive, so her strategy surprised me.  There was a ton of eggs laying around when we walked outside and Anna Claire was being picky about the eggs she picked up.  I expected her to grab every egg she could, but she didn't.  She picked up one egg and said, "nope not this one, I've already got a pink one in my basket."  Anna Claire was very laid back about the whole egg hunting experience this year.  She may have been tired from all the talking she did during the children's minute at church.  : )

Being very selective about which eggs to put in her bucket.